5 Professions Most Likely to Make You a Homeowner

Written by: Jerry Kronenberg04/04/14 - 3:51 PM EDT

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys -- unless you want them to own their own homes, that is.

Property-listing site Trulia.com recently found that ranchers and other Americans in certain occupations have unusually high homeownership rates, even after controlling for income, education and other variables that affect buying vs. renting.

"We took all of those demographics into account, then looked at whether some professions still have higher homeownership rates beyond the demographics," Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko says. "We really wanted to isolate the relationship between homeownership and certain occupations."

Kolko says people who are older, married, richer and living in rural areas have historically owned homes at higher rates than younger, single, less wealthy, urban Americans.

But he says Trulia found that even after accounting for those factors, people in some professions own their own housing more frequently than those in other lines of work.

Kolko says occupations with higher homeownership rates generally offer more job security and predictable income levels, as well as less need to move around to stay employed or advance your career. The economist says that's not surprising given that owning a home "makes more sense the longer that you stay in one place."

Read on to check out the five professions Trulia discovered have the highest homeownership rates over and above what demographic characteristics of people who work in those fields would suggest.

Trulia based its study on 2007-12 U.S. Census data covering the ages, incomes, marital status, homeownership rates, location (rural vs. urban) and other traits of Americans in various occupations.

Kolko attributes the higher-than-predicted homeownership rate partly to the fact groundskeepers generally don't have to relocate to different cities for career advancement.

The expert also thinks many landscapers own homes because they place great importance on having well-manicured lawns and have the skills and equipment needed to grow one. "People who choose to be in that occupation probably care a lot more than average about controlling the look and function of their [home's landscaping]," Kolko says.